


Next Time

by SallyWhite92



Category: Phineas and Ferb
Genre: Change of pace amirite, F/M, Growing Up, High School, I should not be writing, Jealous Phineas, Jealousy, Lost Love, Oblivious Isabella, Pre Act Your Age, lost chances, oh well lol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-04
Updated: 2015-02-04
Packaged: 2018-03-10 10:53:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3287609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SallyWhite92/pseuds/SallyWhite92
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Next time," he kept telling himself. "Next time I'll tell her how I feel." And that was what he would keep telling himself for the next year until he realized that too many 'next times' were dangerously close to 'never.' Can Phineas pluck up the courage to finally tell Isabella how he feels about her? Only one year left of high school before they both left for college. Phinbella</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I said on my tumblr that I was going to write this and by God I finally did. In tribute to Act Your Age I'm going to write a series of stories depicting Phineas and Isabella's high school life leading up to the episode and Phineas' realization of his feelings. Each story may not follow a specific timeline, I haven't really decided yet. Look me up on my tumblr, SallyWhite92, to hear more about it.

Today was the day.

The day that he was going to tell her how he felt.

At least, that's what he told himself.

Phineas Flynn sighed as he stared at the object of his affections from across the cafeteria. It was sad, really, just how much he liked her. Because it was a lot. A whole lot. He had known her since they were children, but it wasn't until they reached high school that he realized just how wonderful she was. Wonderful, sweet, charming, beautiful…the list went on and on. And he just wished that he had told her sooner.

"Just go over there, geez," a voice to his left grumbled. The red-headed boy turned to see his friend Buford shoving food in his mouth, an annoyed look on his face.

"I can't just go over there!" Phineas protested, bringing his hands up to make a gesture to emphasize his point.

"And why not?" his other friend Baljeet questioned him from across the table. The Indian boy had looked up from his calculus homework and had an eyebrow raised at his friend.

"B-because!" the red-head sputtered, trying to come up with a good reason. And, of course, as his luck would have it, he couldn't come up with one at that moment.

"Chicken," Buford mocked, narrowing his eyes at his friend. "You don't have the guts."

"I do, too!" Phineas jumped up from the table, his hands turning into fists. "I'll prove it! I'll go over there!"

At his other side, his step-brother Ferb let out a snort from behind the book he was reading. "Sure you are. And my hair isn't green."

The other two boys laughed with the green-haired boy at the joke, and it make Phineas clench his fists. That was it. He was tired of the other guys teasing him about his crush. He was going to prove them all wrong! They would see!

He squared his shoulders back and started to march over to the table where his lady love sat. But about half-way there he started to lose his bravado. His hands began to sweat and he gulped loudly. Oh man, what had he gotten himself into? Was it too late to turn back? He started to turn around when he heard her voice.

"Hey, Phineas. Whatcha doin'?"

His heart skipped a beat and he forced himself to take a deep breath before turning to face her, a smile playing on his lips. "Hey, Isabella."

Isabella Garcia-Shapiro sat at the table, a vision of adorable-ness in her pink skirt and white blouse. She had started wearing her hair in a low ponytail when they reached high school, her hair held back by her signature boy. Her blue eyes shone at him, an easy smile on her lips.

Oh, man. He was a goner, for sure.

He took a seat beside her, hoping to whatever deity there was that she wouldn't notice how bad his hands were shaking. The other girls at the table looked at each other and giggled before standing and bidding their friend farewell. He didn't understand why they did that, but Phineas just shrugged it off. He had accepted long ago that he would never understand girls.

"So…what's up?" Isabella asked him, turning her body a bit so that she could look him in the eye.

"Not much, really," he said, trying to appear casual. "I just came over to ask you the same thing." Smooth, Flynn. Real smooth. He would have smacked himself if she wasn't right there.

"Actually I was going to ask you if I could come over to your house after school," she told him, folding her hands in her lap as she smiled at him. "I have this big geometry test coming up and I was hoping that you would help me study for it. I'm just having a really hard time getting this class."

"Of course I'll help!" he exclaimed, then cleared his throat and glanced away. "I mean, I did ace geometry last year. And we're neighbors so it's not like I'd be going out of my way." He really wanted to smack himself. Hard. This was not how he had wanted this conversation to go.

The Mexican-Jewish girl giggled and reached over to put her hand on his shoulder. "I knew what you meant, silly. And I really appreciate this." She removed her hand to tuck a strand of stray hair behind her ear.

He could only stare as she did, absolutely fascinated by everything she did. God, he was such a goner. And a sucker for anything that concerned her. He forced himself to look away, his hands clenching the seat under him.

This was it. His chance to finally tell her. Don't screw this up, Flynn, be cool!

"So…are you busy this weekend?" he asked her, glancing at her from the corners of his eyes. "Because I was wondering if—"

"Hey, babe."

"Oh, hey, Matt."

A well-built boy sat down at Isabella's other side, putting his arm around her shoulders and pressing his lips to her cheek. He eyed Phineas, though his smile stayed on his face. "Hey, Phineas."

"Hey, Matt," the red-head greeted back, trying so hard not to let his tone sour. Matthew Recks, the school's all-star. Captain of the football team, the basketball team, and the wrestling team. It didn't help that he was also charming and out-going.

And, apparently, he was Isabella's boyfriend.

Fantastic.

"I didn't know you guys were together," Phineas remarked to Isabella, trying not to let her know how hurt he was.

"Yeah, well, it only happened a couple of days ago," she told him sheepishly, an apology in her eyes. "I was going to tell you, I swear."

"You ready for our date this weekend?" Matt asked her, his hand trailing down to rest at the small of her back. Phineas wanted to deck the guy but of course he couldn't start a scene. It would be way too out of character for him.

"Of course!" Isabella told the jock happily, giving him one of her signature smiles. Then she turned her attention back to her red-haired friend. "What were you going to ask me?"

"It's nothing," Phineas said, standing up and shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans. "I'll see you after school." He quickly made his way out of the cafeteria, passing by the table of his friends. He could hear them murmuring sympathies to him, but that wasn't what he wanted. He didn't want their pity.

He made his way down the hall to his locker, where he stopped to try to compose himself. He had missed his chance, again. But how was he supposed to know she had a boyfriend? They weren't as close as they used to be…and he was just realizing how much that was hurting him.

Not to mention hurting his chances with her.

He sighed and leaned back against his locker, sliding down until he was sitting on the floor. He rested his arms on his knees then put his chin on his arms.

So close…he had been so close to telling her. It was actually the closest he had ever come. So at least it was an improvement.

He closed his eyes as he sighed again. Isabella never dated guys for long, anyways, and Matt wasn't even her type. So he shouldn't have too much to worry about.

"Next time," he muttered to himself, opening his eyes. "Next time I'll definitely tell her."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope those of you who are reading this are really enjoying it. This chapter includes a little crack ship that I ship, for no reason really. Again, if you want to know more about the story, you can go to my tumblr or you can shoot me a review here or on FF.net.

Today was the day.

A new day in a new week.

He could feel it in his bones

He had been right about Matthew and Isabella. They hadn't lasted long, barely a week. The jock had been found making out with a cheerleader behind the bleachers. Isabella had calmly broken up Matt in the hall, very publicly, embarrassing him to the point where the jock had called her some unsightly names.

Phineas had  _accidentally_ poured his chocolate milk on the jock's head that day during lunch, causing him even more public humiliation. He'd received a black eye after school for his actions, but it had been worth it.

Especially when Isabella had given him her warmest smile when he was at her house later, as she pressed ice gently to his bruised eye.

They had spent the weekend together, just hanging out like they used to in the old days. He and Ferb had built their own drive-in theater, but just like all of their projects it ended up mysteriously disappearing. They had stopped questioning it years ago. Isabella and the former fireside girls had helped out with the projects, and the Mexican-Jewish girl had agreed to study with him again the following week.

This week was homecoming week, with the whole week being themed like a fairytale story. A lot of the boys in school thought it was stupid, but the girls all adored it. Isabella was not excluded in those who thought the fairytale week was a fantastic idea.

So of course Phineas played along right with her. When she dressed up, he would wear something that would match her outfit. She just laughed it off, thanking him for joining her in the fun. He played along with it, not wanting her to know that he was doing it mostly to keep other guys from trying to ask her to the homecoming dance that Friday.

Because that was what he wanted to do.

And, of course, it was now Thursday and he had yet to ask her.

But he was going to. Today. After school. They had another study date and he planned on asking her while it was going on. He had pretty high hopes that she would say yes…but of course he had his doubts.

Thursday's theme was The Little Mermaid. Isabella was wearing a dress that looked like Ariel's during the "Kiss the Girl" scene in the movie, her hair held half-back with a bow. She looked a lot like she had when they were children and it made Phineas have some major flashbacks. It was pretty great.

Phineas was wearing the typical Prince Eric outfit, with the red sash around his waist and the white shirt and blue pants, finished off with the boots. He got made fun of a little for the boots, but he didn't care. The smile his outfit brought to Isabella's face was enough for him.

He drove her home that day after school, and he stayed at her house for their study date. All through-out it he had to hide his sweaty palms and the fact that his hands were shaking. Why was he so nervous about this? It wasn't like he was asking her to marry him, he just wanted to know if she would go to the dance with him. And yet…it felt like a huge thing was going down right now.

"Phineas? Earth to Phineas!"

"Huh?" The red-head lifted his head to stare at his friend.

Isabella smiled softly at him, her head tilted to the side. "Are you okay? I've been trying to get your attention for the past few minutes."

"Sorry," he apologized, giving her a sheepish smile as he rubbed the back of his head. "I guess I was just a little preoccupied."

"Penny for your thoughts?" she asked him, resting her chin on her hands.

"It's nothing, really," he lied, scratching his ear.

She pointed at the hand that was doing the itching. "You're lying. I know you better than that, Phin. Spill."

"I was just…" He gulped. Start out slow, Flynn. Don't screw this up. "I was just thinking about the dance. Wondering about who was going to be going with who."

"Well, Baljeet and Ginger are going together, obviously," she commented.

"Obviously." He nodded back at her. The Indian boy and Japanese girl had gotten together that past summer, to no surprise of anyone. "I heard that Irving asked Holly and she actually said yes. No one expected that."

"Apparently they've been pretty close since they did that musical together at the beginning of summer," she commented, checking over her homework as they spoke. "He's changed a lot since he got that job with that one company. No can get the name of it out of him."

Phineas nodded, doing his best to try to keep his cool. Now was his chance. "So…were you planning on going?"

"Of course." She looked up at him with a smirk on her lips. "You know that I don't miss a school dance. They're good for memory making."

"I know, I know." He smiled back at her, feeling his nerves beginning to subside. This was how it was supposed to be between them. They were friends first…and maybe more later, but conversation was supposed to be easy for them. And it was finally getting that way again.

"So…" He rested his elbows on the table, putting his chin in his hands. "I was wondering if you were going to the dance with anyone?"

"As a matter of fact, I am," she answered him, looking him right in the eye.

He felt his heart drop down to his stomach. Oh… He swallowed hard, silently. "Oh yeah? Who asked?"

She tucked some of her hair behind her ear, glancing down at her table. "Django asked him."

"Django? Django Brown?" Phineas let his hands fall to hide under the table, clenching into fists once they were out of sight. Django was supposed to be one of his friends, yet he had asked Isabella to the dance? What the hell? "That's great! Django's a really awesome guy."

"Yeah, I think we'll have fun together," Isabella agreed, smiling at her friend once more.

Phineas could only nod and sigh, cursing at himself for not asking her earlier in the week…

* * *

 

The next day was Friday, and the theme was Cinderella. Phineas could only watch as Django pulled a Prince Charming and knelt down to put Isabella's sandal back on when it fell off of her foot. The Mexican-Jewish girl's face was pink as she accepted the other boy's help, a giddy smile on her face.

The red-head just sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets, turning away from the sight.

Next time.

Next time he would ask her to the dance before anyone could, for sure.


End file.
